Thinking of getting a cheap CNC any suggestions?

[pickdropper]

A buddy of mine has a dedicated PCB mill.  It was rather pricey ($10k, IIRC).

According to him, the reason that it works better for PCBs than a standard CNC mill is that it rides the surface of the copper clad, resulting in an even etch.  He was considerably less enthusiastic about etching PCBs on a standard CNC mill, but that doesn't mean it can't be done.

as long as you level your cutting area (just cut a large square out of some MDF) it should be solid results

I believe his complaint was that the copper clad itself often has a non-uniform surface, even if it looks flat.

For most materials, that is easily solved by leveling the cutting area, but I suspect that wouldn't work for the thin copper.

[Gurner]

as long as you level your cutting area (just cut a large square out of some MDF) it should be solid results

Whilst levelling your CNC machine's bed/surface helps, you can also cater for uneven (warped) pcb board surfaces in software, by probing the copper surface first.

Here's the method/process...

(I use the same CNC app as above - check out how excessively  warped the guy made the copper board & yet how the final cutting result was just fine)

[Gurner]

double post - self deleted.

[pickdropper]

as long as you level your cutting area (just cut a large square out of some MDF) it should be solid results

Whilst levelling your CNC machine's bed/surface helps, you can also cater for uneven (warped) pcb board surfaces in software, by probing the copper surface first.

Here's the method/process...

(I use the same CNC app as above - check out how excessively  warped the guy made the copper board & yet how the final cutting result was just fine)

Ah, clever.